Tonight saw me venturing out to a 21st birthday party for a young man named Andrew. I love performing to any one and any time but these type of events let you adjust your effects a little to be more personal for the clients. Tonight I started with the my close up set and the night went in to full swing quickly. People laughing and cheering and generally having a good time but then I saw him.
This little 13 year old boy in the corner just not having a good time at all. As I approached the table I changed my usual introduction and substituted it with “Good evening, my name is Alan and I am the magicians assistant for the evening.” I then followed on by getting little Adam up and performed all my routines as if I was the assistant and he was the magician. After the short set and his ten minutes of fame, all be it at one little table, he was beaming with pride and had started to enjoy the party a little more.
I later found out from his mother that he had just recently lost some one rather close and he had been a little quiet for about a month, this was the only thing to make him close to his old self again which for me, makes me feel great and judging by the praise from the family it made little Adam feel a little better about him self.
What is the moral to this little post. Well, its simple. All performers should be able to adapt what they do to suit their clients needs. But it also helps being able to take the spot light off yourself and adapt your act a little to give some one else the lime light for a while. All in all it would have been a fantastic night even if this did not happen but I must admit, It made it ten times better.
Do not be afraid to adapt, change and progress. Be afraid when you notice your are not!
Alan